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The Compound

After his parents, two sisters, and he have spent six years in a vast underground compound built by his wealthy father to protect them from a nuclear holocaust, fifteen-year-old Eli, whose twin brother and grandmother were left behind, discovers that his father has perpetrated a monstrous hoax on them all.

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From Library Staff

After his parents, two sisters, and he have spent six years in a vast underground compound built by his wealthy father to protect them from a nuclear holocaust, fifteen-year-old Eli, whose twin brother and grandmother were left behind, discovers that his father has perpetrated a monstrous hoax on... Read More »

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Well written story that has some truly creepy and original ideas. The main character is interesting and well-developed. I appreciated that the author took the time to give each family member a distinct personality including flaws, and that the relationships were varied and made sense.

I found that this book "jumped" into the thick of the plot a little quickly (i.e. without a lot of character development) for my taste, and so it was hard to empathize with the characters, at first. It was, however, fantastically descriptive- so much so that I could imagine living inside the compound, myself. Eventually, I found that I was feeling fearful of Eli's father. This is a fast-paced, edgy read and would be (I think) an especially great read for those who find themselves bored with slow-moving novels.

Summary

Eli Yanakakis is an average young boy on vacation with his billionaire dad, Rex Yanakakis, along with his twin brother, two sisters, his mom, and his grandmother. Then, in a few minutes, his life changed forever. A nuclear attack strikes their vacation spot, and nine-year old Eli is forced to flee to a secret and safe place, a compound. There, he finds out that his twin brother did not make it, and that both Eddy and Gram are lost in the nuclear bomb. Here, at the compound, the family must stay for fifteen years, until it is safe to leave.
Six years dread past slowly and painfully. Eli still has not gotten over the death of his twin, and life in the compound begins to be unbearable. Sure, there’s everything you would ever need in it, a library, a gymnasium, a chapel, a greenhouse for food, a living room filled with movies and TV shows, a spa, and each bedroom made especially for its owner. But all of this is reproductions of the real thing, and Eli Yanakakis begins to regret his father’s decisions of keeping his family in this underground home. He finds his brother’s laptop in Eddy’s room, and this discovery led to many more. Turns out, his father was lying all this time, and with a short instant messaging conversation with his dear twin brother, Eli discovers that the world still exists, and the nuclear bomb was nothing but one of his father’s lies.
Now, he is determined to leave this terrible place, and be on earth once more. With the help of his family, Eli uncovered the secret code to the outside, but is stopped by his dad, who turned slightly insane at the fact that his family unappreciated what he tried to do. Rex Yanakakis ordered a helicopter to take his family to another compound, but soon Eddy saves them before their mentally unstable father took it too far, and left their father with the helicopter he planned to take. Though it is not determined whether their father was alive or dead, the family moved on without grief. After all, Rex Yanakakis conquered nothing but trouble for their minds and to themselves. Nothing in the compound proved happiness, and now, Eli and Eddy Yanakakis are ready to face the world once again.